Obituary: Steve Kramer was a favored frontman, in many fields

Steve Kramer, who fronted the beloved 1980s Twin Cities band the Wallets before shifting his musical talents to the advertising world, died in his sleep while attending the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.

Kramer, who formed an ad agency with the band's manager, Bob Hest, and wrote commercial music for clients including Target, was reportedly in good health before his death Saturday in his hotel room. An autopsy is pending. Kramer was 59.

The Wallets developed a loyal following in the mid-1980s and earned a mention in Newsweek with quirky songs such as the band's biggest hit, "Totally Nude," mixing New Wave sounds with polka and synth rock.

He returned to the public eye in 2011, collaborating with Twin Cities writer Kevin Kling on the holiday show "Of Mirth and Mischief." They recently teamed again to work on "The Best Summer Ever," a new musical for Children's Theatre Company.

"Steve always took care of himself and was very health-conscious, especially of late," Hest said in a statement, noting Kramer had been sober for 33 years and even survived a three-story fall many years ago in New York.

"He was diligently doing bikram yoga, or 'hot yoga,' and he was really looking forward to completing the new show with Kevin," Hest added.

Kling said Monday that he is unsure what will happen with the musical. "He really was the spirit of the project."

"We would meet every Monday for the last two years," Kling said. "I'm missing him now. We just hit it off. He could just get me to laugh. ... He really had a good way of looking at the world."

'Erik the Bikeman!'

Along with Target, the Hest and Kramer agency also held accounts with J.C. Penney, McDonald's, Harley-Davidson, MTV and Budweiser.

One of his most well-known broadcast ads in the Twin Cities market, for Erik's Bikes, features Kramer's voice screeching "Erik the Bikeman!"

"In many ways, [Kramer] had come full circle, going back to writing songs for the stage and capturing it all splendidly after years of penning 30-second pieces," Hest said. "I don't know what I'll do without him personally and professionally."

Kramer returned to Minnesota and soon afterward formed the Wallets with Jim Clifford, Max Ray, Rod Gordon and Erik Anderson.

Family members and friends recalled Kramer's kind and playful spirit.

"He had this electric aura about him," said Clifford, who had known Kramer since the sixth grade. "You could maybe put a hat on it, but you couldn't bottle it."

His sister Jennifer Kramer, with whom he was staying in Park City when he died, said that while most people know him through his music, he was "very spiritual, very loving to everybody. People would always remember him, even bank tellers and gas station attendants, because he would make them laugh."

Another sister, Phyllis Dozier, said, "This is very hard for all of us in the family and for Cathy Young, his longtime partner of 30 years. They were finally planning to get married officially."

A memorial service is scheduled for 6 p.m. Sunday at Lake Harriet United Methodist Church, 4901 Chowen Av. S., Minneapolis.